Community Sports

By The Bakersfield Californian

LAKE ISABELLA: Lake is so low the boat ramps pretty much require four-wheel drive to launch boats. The bass are good on jigs and deep-diving crankbaits with fish up to six pounds or better reported. There is still very good action on catfish and the crappie bite has really surged back on this week. The cat action has been best on salted garlic clam meat, regular clams, shad, nightcrawlers, and green garlic nightcrawlers with fish to 10 pounds reported. The crappie are almost all showing on small minnows fished near the dam with the fish running up to 1-8.

KERN RIVER: The river is very low with flow just over 100 cfs in the upper river and around 150 to 170 in the lower river below Isabella. The trout bite has been fair to good in the mornings on flies, salmon eggs, and crickets in the upper river, but the stretch around Kernville has been tough. No recent DFW plants. The lower river continues to have a good bass bite. Top areas are in the Rancheria, Hart Park, and Ming Lake stretches.

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AQUEDUCT NEAR TAFT: The aqueduct has been very good this past week for both small stripers and catfish. Still a moss problem, but stripers from 15 to 17 includes with an occasional keeper fish are pretty much wide open on blood worms, while the catfish bite has been good on crickets. Most anglers are fishing No. 1/0 and 2/0 circle hooks filled with crickets. Lots of fish to six pounds or better reported. Information: Bob's Bait 661-833-8657.

MILL CREEK PARK: Good bite on bluegill with a few bass also showing.

RIVER WALK PARK LAKE: The bluegill bite remains the best bet on wax worms and meal worms. Carp are also showing on dough baits and Powder Bait. The bass are fair on plastics and minnows but mostly in the evenings.

HART PARK LAKE: Water level remains good and this is one of the best fishing spots in the region with a very good bluegill bite on meal worms and wax worms. The carp bite is also good, mostly on dough baits. The bass bite is fair on plastics and reaction baits

TRUXTUN LAKE: Bluegill action is good on wax worms, meal worms, or small jigs. The carp are good on dough baits. The bass are slow to fair in the evenings.

MING LAKE: The water level remains very good and the action on bluegill and carp is very good. The bluegill are best on wax worms and meal worms. Carp bite is best on dough baits. The bass are slow to fair on plastics, Senkos, Brush Hawgs, and minnows in the evenings.

BRITE LAKE: No report.

BUENA VISTA LAKES: Fair to good bluegill action with some fish to a pound, but most much smaller now. Best bite is on the usual small baits like wax worms, meal worms, red worms, crickets, or small nightcrawler pieces. There is also a fair catfish bite on nightcrawlers and shad, but most of the fish are under three pounds. However, Oscar Enciso, Bakersfield, landed a 34-pound catfish tossing a Bill Norman crankbait this week. A few bass showing.

WOOLLOMES LAKE: Good action on bluegill with a few bass being caught on reaction baits and frogs in the evenings. .

SUCCESS LAKE: Good bluegill action and nice stringers of fish showing up along most shoreline areas with some structure. The bass bite has also remained good on plastics and reaction baits.

KAWEAH LAKE: The bluegill action is good on wax worms and meal worms, and the catfish bite has been fair to good.

Other regional lakes

CACHUMA: Catfish good bite on fish to 6 pounds.The bass bite has been slow to fair with the best bite that brief period of topwater action early in the day. The crappie bite has slowed. Good bluegill action in the backs of most coves and bays.

CASITAS: The bass action remains fair to good early in the morning and late in the evenings. Also few catfish and bluegill-redear are showing for the few anglers targeting these species. Other species have been very slow.

CASTAIC: The largemouth bite has been very good to excellent this past week. The striper bite has continued good in deep water. The bluegill bite has been fair.

LOPEZ: Bass fair to good. The panfish bite is fair to good on bluegill with a few crappie and redear. Also fair action on catfish

PIRU: The largemouth bass bite has been good. A few catfish reports, but no reports on crappie this week.

NACIMIENTO: Best action has been for catfish. There is also a good bluegill bite in most of the coves and areas with structure or docks.

SAN ANTONIO: The striper bite has taken off in the past couple of weeks. The catfish bite has been fair to good. The black bass bite has been spotty.

PYRAMID: Lots of small stripers from 10 to 12 inches showing but few bigger fish. The largemouth bass bite has been very good all over the lake

Eastern Sierra

BRIDGEPORT REGION: The East Walker River is still fishing good in spite of low flows. Lots of good dry fly (caddis and midge) action on both the California and Nevada sides of the river. Bridgeport Reservoir is still in the summer blah. Kirman Lake is good and getting better by the day. Lots of quality brookies and cutthroats on streamers, scuds, and soft hackles. The Twin Lakes have been spotty but are starting to improve.

JUNE LAKE LOOP-LEE VINING REGION: Silver Lake has been very good on Mice Tails or lures for both shore and boat anglers after both DFW and Alpers' plants last week. Grant Lake has been producing a few nice browns and rainbows. Gull and June are also good with a lot of fish from one to two pounds on both baits and lures.

MAMMOTH AREA:Convict Lake and Convict Creek have both been good this week with light fishing pressure and good action. There were over a dozen rainbows at 2-8 or better report from Convict Lake. Crowley Lake has very low water levels but good fishing. Lots of fish up into the four-pound class with some bigger browns. The Twin Lakes and Lake Mary are fair to good on rainbows and brookies. Hot Creek has been fair to good. The upper Owens River remains fair to good.

BISHOP AND BIG PINE AREA: Lake Sabrina is so low the front lake is gone and the level is down to the natural lake. The fishing has continued fair to good in deeper water in what would normally be behind the Island or taking a bit of a hike to the front of the back natural lake. The deep water bites have been on nightcrawlers or PowerBait. North Lake and Intake II have been the hot spots.

LONE PINE TO INDEPENDENCE AREA: All the small streams along Highway 395 in the Eastern Sierra were planted again this week.

Trout plants

No plants slated this week for Kern, Tulare counties.

Ocean report

OFFSHORE STILL SIZZLING: While the bluefin tuna action slowed a little going into the full moon this Thursday (like always), the volume of yellowfin tuna and dorado moving into range of the one- to two-day San Diego sportboats has been steadily increasing. And the yellowtail just have never slowed down this season. So this bite is still phenomenal. There is a huge volume of all four species just 40 to 100 miles south of Point Loma, and warm surface water temperatures have yellowtail, dorado, and even yellowfin tuna in range of the half-day fleet.

CENTRAL COAST ALBACORE: The albacore bite, absent in Southern California this year, has been good for the Central Coast to San Francisco Bay area boats, but fishing pressure is skimpy. Morro Bay hasn't had a boat since last week, but there is a good volume of fish on this stretch of the coast.

MONTGOMERY WARD : It's amazing how quickly rumors circulate in this age of social media and instant messaging. On Monday, rumors were flying that the old Golden State Mall on F Street was about to be turned into a homeless center run by its new owner, Canyon Hills Assembly of God.

OIL PRICES : Oil producers have sharply curtailed drilling as the price of crude has plummeted, but it may not last for long. At least that is the opinion of oil magnate T. Boone Pickens, who predicted this week that oil prices would rebound to about $100 a barrel by the end of 2016.